Mum-of-two Liza was the fittest and happiest she’d ever been at 36. Now she’s been given just 12 months to live – and she’s not the only one…

A fit and healthy mum who was suddenly struck with a series of ‘odd’ symptoms has been given just 12 months to live – leaving her devastated at the thought of missing her young daughters grow up.

Liza Mann, from Kununurra in Western Australia, was diagnosed with bowel cancer at just 36 years of age in 2018.

She is one of thousands of young people being struck down with the disease, with the risk of diagnosis before the age of 40 more than doubling since the year 2000.

Liza was in the best shape of her life and going to the gym regularly when she started noticing blood in her stools and some light bloating.

At first, she brushed it off.

‘I just thought it might have been haemorrhoids or something like that – I didn’t think too much about it,’ Liza told FEMAIL.

But when the bleeding worsened over six weeks, her mum urged her to see a doctor.

‘Thank goodness I had a GP that listened to me,’ she said.

The doctor immediately sent her for tests, including a colonoscopy.

When she woke up from the procedure, she was given the devastating news that doctors had found a tumour in her lower bowel.

‘They brought my husband in and told me they were 99 per cent sure it was malignant… that’s when everything changed.’

Liza was blindsided by the diagnosis.

‘I was 36. I’ve always been fit and healthy. And this is the thing – everyone seems to think that bowel cancer is an old man’s disease, but it’s not. So many young people are getting diagnosed now. It’s crazy,’ she said.

Despite undergoing surgery to remove the tumour and chemotherapy to ‘mop up’ lingering cancer cells, the disease wasn’t done with her.

‘There was no evidence of disease for 11 months,’ she recalled.

‘And then, on my birthday in 2020, they found it had spread into my lungs. And now it’s incurable.’

She was told she had metastatic bowel cancer – meaning it had spread beyond the bowel and could no longer be cured.

‘It’s just terminal. Incurable,’ she said.

‘So then it was just a case of chemotherapy for the rest of my life.’

Liza said she knows all too well how easily bowel cancer can be dismissed in young people.

Just a year after her own diagnosis, a close friend – only 33 at the time – began experiencing similar symptoms.

‘She saw two doctors who just brushed her off,’ Liza recalled.

‘They told her she was too young, said it was just IBS.’

But Liza, who had already been through it herself, urged her friend to push for a colonoscopy.

‘I told her, “You need to demand it, these symptoms don’t seem right”,’ she recalled.

By the time doctors finally took her concerns seriously, the cancer had already spread to her liver.

‘It was too late,’ Liza said.

‘She only lived for about 12 months.’

Now, as she faces her own terminal diagnosis, Liza is determined to raise awareness, hoping no one else has to suffer the same fate. 

For years, Liza defied the odds, undergoing treatment while still working, volunteering, and raising her two daughters, Alexis, now 11, and Sienna, 9.

She and her husband, Jarrod, a police officer, moved to Kununurra to give their girls an adventurous childhood.

‘We wanted to bring them up regionally – there are lakes, great bushwalks, camping, and fishing. It’s been a great place for them to grow up,’ she said.

But in November 2023, Liza was given the news no mother wants to hear.

‘They kind of gave me 12 months to live,’ she admitted.

It was a heartbreaking reality for Liza, whose biggest fear isn’t dying – it’s leaving her daughters behind.

‘How do you explain that to them? You try to be honest, but you don’t want them to stress out. They ask, “Mum, are you going to die?” and I just don’t know how to answer,’ she said.

Her biggest priority now is making memories with them.

‘My husband and I have always tried to create great memories for the girls. It’s never been about work for us – it’s been about lifestyle,’ she said.

Despite her deteriorating health, she recently took her daughters to the Philippines to see where their grandmother was from, followed by a trip to Universal Studios in Singapore.

‘We just want them to have these memories, you know?’ she said, her voice breaking.

Liza credits her resilience to her active lifestyle.

‘Before I was diagnosed, I was doing CrossFit. I was at one of the fittest points in my life,’ she said.

Even after surgery, radiation, and years of chemotherapy, she stayed as active as possible.

‘My doctor told me the other week, “If it was anyone else, I don’t think they’d still be around”,’ she said.

Although she can no longer lift heavy weights, she still does Pilates, light workouts, and daily walks.

‘It’s good for your soul, good for your mental health. And I think it’s prolonged my life,’ she said.

Liza recently made the difficult decision to move back to Perth to be closer to medical care and her family.

‘I’ve been flying to Perth every three and a half weeks since 2020 for chemotherapy,’ she explained.

‘But my kids were getting over me being away all the time.’

Now, as she faces the reality of her prognosis, she’s leaning on her loved ones for support.

‘My friends and family have been incredible. When I was first diagnosed, my friends did a meal train so I wouldn’t have to cook,’ she said.

‘My husband would grumble about some of the meals, and I’d say, “just be thankful, Jarrod!”.’

Her colleagues in Kununurra also became a second family.

‘When you work somewhere so remote, you become close.

‘I kind of became a mother hen to the younger ones – I’d cook them meals, make sure they weren’t just eating takeout all the time.’

Now, they’re returning the favour, stepping in to help Jarrod with school pick-ups and caring for the girls when Liza is too unwell.

But no amount of support can ease the pain of knowing she might not see her daughters grow up.

‘You put on a front for them – you have to be positive. But sometimes, it’s really hard.’

Early on-set bowel cancer is a serious problem in Australia, with the disease now the deadliest cancer for those aged 25-44.

Over the past three decades there has been a 266 per cent increase in bowel cancer incidence rates in adolescents and young adults (15-24 years) and people born in 1990 onwards have double the risk of colon cancer and quadruple the risk of rectal cancer compared to those born in 1950.

Bowel Cancer Australia regularly receives feedback from younger people diagnosed with early-onset bowel cancer who have initially had their signs and symptoms attributed to haemorrhoids, food intolerances or a result of living a hectic lifestyle. 

1,708 people under the age of 50 are diagnosed with bowel cancer Down Under each year. 

Of those, 50.4 per cent are women and 86 per cent experienced symptoms. 

While BCA recognises that lowering the screening guidelines may be one step forward for people aged 40 and older, it doesn’t address the rising rates of early-onset bowel cancer as a whole.

As a result, It is crucial for younger people and GPs to have a high suspicion of red flag signs and symptoms and to work together to ensure prompt investigations to rule out the disease.

Liza is sharing her story to spread awareness about early-onset bowel cancer in Australia. She has raised over $15,000 for the cause.